Accord
Accord is a minor antagonist in IDW's My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic series, serving as the main antagonist of the seventeenth story arc; "Chaos Theory" (issues 48-50). He is the orderly and harmonious alter-ego of Discord, who desires to create "true" unity and order throughout Equestria by brainwashing all of its citizens into thinking the same. History ''Issue 48'' When the Mane 6 attempt to view the Cosmic Convergence event, Discord tags along with them and attempts to become the center of attention, only to be scolded by Applejack for pulling another one of his attention grabbing stunts and disturbing the crowd of other ponies there. Discord then teleports away when he realizes he isn't wanted, leaving a large cloud of smoke behind. During the Cosmic Convergence, Starlight Glimmer notices a strange green glow and urges the rest of the Mane 6 to check it out. The Mane 6 then recognize the source of the glow as an egg that looks and smells like Discord and they bring the egg back to Twilight's Castle to decipher what it contains. While the Mane 6 are examining it, the egg burst open and reveals a much more professional, well dressed and dapper version of Discord. The Mane 6 are baffled by Discord's appearance, but he explains that the Cosmic Convergence transformed him into a being of order instead of chaos. He goes on to state that, while he technically is Discord, he doesn't feel like him in the slightest, which results in Twilight renaming him Accord; as it is the opposite of discord. The next day, the Mane 6 show Accord around Ponyville, shocking various citizens. Accord continues to explain that, unlike Discord, who used his powers for his own benefit and amusement, he only wants to use his powers to help others and seeks to have a better reputation than Discord did. Accord also explains that, since he has no idea why he transformed, he doesn't know when or if he'll ever turn back into Discord, although Applejack states that, since he is far more polite than Discord ever was, she wouldn't mind him staying around. When Starlight asks about how his magic works, Accord clarifies that his magic organizes, harmonizes and unifies things to the way they should be, fixing a pony's broken produce wagon as an example. Rarity then has the idea to have Accord help build the Ponyville Motel, which had been under construction for years yet was never finished due to a design disagreement between the building's two main architects. Under the instructions of Mayor Mare, Accord uses his powers to try and fix the chaos, however, he uses his abilities to control the architects into agreeing on a design. Mayor Mare then instructs him to use his magic on the building instead, which he happily does. That night, the Mane 6 express their admiration for Accord (although Fluttershy still doesn't know how to feel about him), but Starlight tells Twilight that she is concerned about Accord due to his willingness to use mind control to fix problems, which is something she used to do in the past. However, Twilight assures her that it was only a mistake and that Accord means well. The next morning, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna invite the Mane 6, Starlight and Accord to dinner to discuss Discord's transformation into Accord. At the restaurant, Accord informs the princesses that he intends to bring order to Equestria, however, Starlight brings up her concerns about Accord's use of mind control. Accord then states that he is surprised that Starlight is disagreeing with his methods, considering she has used them in the past, and that he intends to simplify the process, bringing concern to Twilight and Celestia. Accord continues to talk about how he could make the citizens of Equestria all perform their duties without disruption and delay, explaining that, while the citizens of Our Town hated being there and wanted to escape, he could make it so the ponies of Equestria would never want to leave his control. Accord then begins to send a mist through the restaurant that brings all it's staff and customers under his control, horrifying Twilight and her friends. Accord then states that, since he can make everypony think the same way, he could most likely do a better job at ruling Equestria than Luna and Celestia. Accord then attempts to blast the Mane 6, Starlight, Celestia and Luna with his magic, but Celestia and Luna block his attack using a force field. Accord then finally tells the ponies to imagine an Equestria ruled by order. ''Issue 49'' Still at the restaurant, Accord continues to try and sway the Mane 6, Starlight, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to no success. Starlight tries to talk Accord out of mind controlling others, but Luna tells her that he will not listen to reason and quickly realizes that Accord's magic is spreading, putting all of Canterlot and potentially Equestria at risk. Twilight then formulates a plan; while Celestia and the others evacuate Canterlot, she and Princess Luna, who has entered Discord's mind before, will use a spell to send themselves into Accord's mind to prevent him from mind controlling anyone. Twilight and Luna transport themselves into Accord's mind and find that it, much like Accord himself, is completely orderly and has no trace of Discord's personality at all. Twilight also deduces that a spell must have been involved with Accord's transformation, meaning that someone wanted to change Discord into Accord. Twilight and Luna then dive deeper into Accord's mind and find that the depths of his mind are represented as a boring, colorless office. Twilight and Luna soon find that their wings and magic don't work inside the office and that all of the Accords managing the real Accord are too busy to help them. Meanwhile, Accord continues to brainwash the citizens of Canterlot and reveals that he is inside the hearts of everyone he controls, manifesting his face over all his controlled subjects in order to confront Celestia. When Applejack and Starlight tell Accord that his methods of trying to create order are not just, he merely states that he is trying to accomplish the same goal as Celestia; bring order to Equestria by eliminating chaos. Accord attempts to convince Celestia to ally herself with him, only for her to angrily teleport Starlight and the Mane 6 away from him, resulting in Accord's subjects trying to chase them down. Back in Accord's mind, Twilight and Luna become frustrated with trying to navigate the office, as everything looks exactly the same. The two Alicorns decide that the best course of action is to look for any traces of chaos in Accord's mind, and, upon finding a snow globe, Twilight realizes that Discord is inside of it and smashes it on the floor, releasing him while covering the office in snow. Upon Discord's release, Twilight asks him who changed him into Accord and Discord revealed that he changed himself into Accord upon realizing that his personality would never allow him to truly fit in with the citizens of Equestria. Discord also reveals that he cannot turn back into himself as he is only a small portion of Accord's body and that the only way to get rid of Accord is to convince him to turn back into Discord. Twilight, Luna and Discord are then backed into a corner and surrounded by the numerous Accords that inhabit Accord's mind. Back in the real world, Celestia, the Mane 6 and Starlight reach the edge of Accord's hypnosis field and begin to evacuate Canterlot. At the train station, Celestia, Starlight and the Mane 6 look over head to see Luna and Twilight descending upon them, now under Accord's control. ''Issue 50'' After the Mane 5, Celestia, Starlight and the non mind-controlled citizens of Canterlot escape Canterlot and the brainwashed Luna and Twilight, Celestia begins to think that Accord may have a point, due to his success in bringing harmony to the citizens he controls. However, Starlight disagrees with her, as his methods of peace come through domination and manipulation, comparing Accord to an evil version of Celestia and later an evil version of the Mane 6. While talking about the evil duplicates/forms, Starlight and Celestia come to the conclusion that, like the other evil duplicates/forms, Accord wants the same things as his original persona and ask themselves the question of what Accord and Discord both truly want. After getting to Ponyville, the group informs Mayor Mare that Accord is trying to take over Equestria and that everypony needs to stay inside. After the Mane 5 and Starlight make it to the library while Celestia retrieves the Elements of Harmony, Accord reappears, stating that he finally managed to work out teleportation magic like Discord did. When Applejack tells Accord that he's never going to succeed with his actions, Accord merely tells her that he has already succeeded in his plans and invites their attempt to use the Elements of Harmony on him, believing that they won't work without Twilight Sparkle. However, Celestia dons the Element of Magic instead and she and the Mane 5 fire at Accord. To Starlight's horror, she finds that the attack having not effected Accord, and instead backfired due to the Elements' primary ability being restoring order, and since Accord is a being of pure order, it did not affect him. Explaining he wanted the Elements to be used on him the whole time, Accord then reveals that he used their magic to spread his influence all across Equestria, telling Starlight that she is likely the only pony not under his control, but won't be for long. However, Starlight challenges Accord; if she is the only non controlled citizen in Equestria, then Accord should play fair and convince her to become one of his followers, a challenge Accord accepts. Accord instantly claims that he will win, stating that he has already turned all her friends into his friends, claiming that friendship is created by order. However, Starlight challenges this, telling Accord that friendship isn't about being the same, nor is it about having order, it is in fact about having disorder and differences and making connections through them, using Discord as an example. Starlight then tells Accord that the citizens of Equestria are not his friends and are merely his puppets instead. Accord begins to realize the truth in Starlight's words but still claims that he's brought harmony to the different citizens of Equestria, only for Starlight to tell him that none of the ponies of Equestria are different, as they all think and act like him. Accord then realizes that Starlight is right about how he has not created order or any friends for himself and decides to transform himself back into Discord. Personality Accord, upon first emerging, is shown to be the complete opposite of his original form: clean, neat, orderly and extremely professional. He has an immeasurable sense of respect for the idea of order and attempts to preserve it any way he can, and also has a desire to help others as well. However, Accord, despite being well intentioned, reveals himself as being extremely controlling, manipulative and cold hearted, intending to brainwash all of Equestria into thinking and acting the same as to remove all chaos and disorder, at the cost of free will. Ironically, Accord's plans debatebly make him even worse than Discord while he was still evil, as, while Discord wanted to create chaos and anarchy to make fun for himself, Accord desired to turn everyone into mindless templates of himself as to create perfect order. It should also be noted that Accord, despite having catastrophic intentions, still believed himself to be doing the right thing for everyone, even comparing his ambitions to that of Celestia, as they both desire to create order (although, while Celestia strives to do this through kindness and acceptance, he plans to do so by forcible control). Towards the end of the arc, Accord realizes that his methods are unjust and decides that it would be best for everyone if he became Discord again (ironically paralleling Discord's desire to improve himself by becoming orderly at the start of the arc). Quotes ''Issue 48'' ''Issue 49'' ''Issue 50'' Gallery 1789171.png|Accord's cameo in Tempest Tale Mlp-comic-50-cover-ri.jpg Trivia * It is possible that Accord is not truly as powerful as Discord is. While Discord is shown to have the power to bend reality to his liking on a whim, Accord is never shown with these capabilities, as, instead of just warping the minds of every pony in Equestria (which, considering his god-like power, he could certainly do) he chooses to instead use a rapidly growing bubble that puts creatures under his control. Although unlikely, it is possible that Accord actually never uses all of Discord's god-like abilities because they would interfere with his desire for order. ** This was later semi-confirmed in issue 50 when it is shown that Accord simply didn't know how to use magic like Discord did, meaning that, while he would have to relearn how to use complex magic, he's still just as powerful as Discord is. * Much like Twilight Sparkle, it is possible Accord has some kind of OCD. * When Starlight Glimmer tells Accord about how he can't be friends with someone who's exactly the same as him, she looks at a picture of Sunset Shimmer in pony form. This is an obvious reference to how many fans pointed out the similarities in Starlight and Sunset's characters, though funnily enough, Starlight and Sunset ended up being really good friends when they finally met up. * In the episode "Discordant Harmony," Discord's desire to make Fluttershy comfortable inside his home by making himself orderly could potentially be inspired by his transformation into Accord (although, in the episode, it is established that Discord will slowly cease to be if he abandons his chaotic nature). 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